Their light
by Satella's Love
Summary: A lone Seaweed Brain hurtles towards the Tartarus, without his Wise Girl existing he falls into despair and gives up. The remaining six heroes fall, dragged down by their light. Au, Annabeth doesn't exist. Warning: Insanity and depression. Might update/expand on. -Satella's Love


The Percy Jackson world, characters and amazing metal dragon do not belong to me...

"Festus, NOOOOOOO!" ;-;

A/N: So, I've been working on this for some time and it's finally done! Yay! I wrote this to mimic the writing style of 'Her prison' I'm not sure if I succeeded, though, it seems sort of similar yet different to me. I was also looking back on this fanfic and I think that if people want me to I might expand on this. I want to expand more on Leo's reaction, because, honestly, that was my favourite reaction along with Hazel's. Especially, the concept of Percy never being eternal. Anyways, if you want to see more drop a follow, favourite or review. Have fun!

* * *

He was falling.

And falling.

And falling…

It was endless.

He used the time he had falling to mentally berate himself. He had been so close… So, so close. They had the blasted statue. They could have made up with the Romans and finished everything. If only he hadn't been so foolish.

He should have known that the string wrapped around his shoe would be dangerous. He shouldn't have let his guard down. So, so foolish. After all, everything important in his life was tied to accursed strings. His life was a string, one that had been cut in front of him. He had spent an entire quest fruitlessly chasing after a golden string. And if you count the Golden Fleece that would be two quests with strings as a central item.

How pathetic, Perseus Jackson the Hero of Olympus was afraid of strings.

His whole life he realised, he had been falling. Falling from reality and into the outlandish grips of the Greek Gods. Falling through the lives of others, would he be a passing influence or would he make a difference? He liked to think he had made a difference because although he was a speck in the lives of the immortals, he had made them promise on the Styx, he made them think about what they were doing and most importantly, he had refused immortality. He had refused to become them, the first mortal to ever tell them that there was something wrong with what they did.

He had spent his time tumbling through life, barely surviving. Soon, though soon, the fall would end and he would finally land on steady ground. The sweet release of death would finally free him from his fall.

Strangely, he had no problem with dying. He would make sure it was painless. He would make sure to end it easily. He didn't have any regrets either. He had made Nico promise to leave him to his fate. Sometimes, it was easier to just give up.

Maybe, he thought as he fell. Just maybe, I can finally be free. No more quests. No more gods. No more pain and suffering. He could go to Elysium, and when he chose to be reborn maybe, just maybe, he could be a normal mortal with nothing to worry about.

It was all he had done, his entire life spent suffering or worrying. Worrying that his maths teacher looked weird. Worrying that the Minotaur would kill him. Worrying that he would fail the quest. Worrying that he couldn't save Olympus. Suffering in pain when he jumped into the Styx. Suffering in pain when he held the sky on his shoulders. Suffering in pain at every bite, stab, punch, kick or attack that hit him. Suffering in pain under the burden of unwanted leadership.

Now, he could rest. At long last, he had nothing left to do.

* * *

A soul disappeared from the crowded world. This soul was an anomaly, even though it was born in the dark, it shone. It shone in the darkness. Or, rather, it used to shine. Now its light was tarnished and dulled, as over the years the darkness had subdued it.

Nico shuddered. A pain hit him in his heart as the one person who truly cared for him after Bianca died, left the mortal world and entered the Underworld. A tear fell from his face and splashed into his palm.

"Nico, what's wrong?" Hazel asked, even though from the sadness in her eyes it was clear she had felt it as well.

"He-he's gone." Nico croaked out.

The entire crew was silent. Hazel burst into tears. Leo stood stock still, trembling slightly. Frank stared dumbstruck at Nico. Piper's eyes were watering and Jason's whole body shook, his hands curled into fists. The air around the Argo seemed to crackle with power. "No… No…" He muttered over and over. Jason lifted his head, his eyes burning with power glared at Nico.

"It's not TRUE!" Jason screamed at Nico. "You're lying!" He pointed a wavering finger at Nico. Hazel shakenly stepped between them. Jason started sobbing, "It's not true… It's not true…" Nico ignoring him, dropped to the deck and for the first time in forever he hugged his knees and cried.

* * *

Their leader was gone. Their fearless, stupid and carefree leader was dead. Now, the responsibility fell to Jason once more to lead. To ensure the survival of everyone. To carry the weight of Percy's death on his shoulders. To tirelessly toil, day after day just to see everyone smile.

How did he make it look so easy? Jason wondered. How could Percy, carrying the weight of every hope, every expectation and every burden make it through the horrors of reality? How could he make the game changing decisions without breaking a sweat?

Jason envied him. To Percy it was natural, Percy was born to be a leader. He had all the perfect traits, the perfect story and the perfect life. Jason had to work hard day after day, desperately attempting to reach the expected standard of being a son of Jupiter.

But that was stupid. Jason was lying to himself and being selfish. After all, Percy was just as blind as everyone else. He didn't have some super power that made him great at making decisions. He was just very, very lucky.

But despite envying Percy's luck, Jason could not, would not despise Percy. During the short time that Jason had known Percy, it had become clear and obvious that Percy was a kind hearted soul with a brilliant personality. And now Jason had to mourn the loss of him. The perfect person, friend and demigod. Even worse, Percy had become the one person in the whole universe that could relate to how Jason felt.

All the pressure, the make or break situations, Percy and Jason just ignorantly stumbled through those because the only beings who actually had some semblance of understanding with what happened in this world, were the gods.

And they sure as hell weren't going to help out the insignificant demigods. No, that would be ruining their fun.

* * *

Leo felt crushed. Wide eyed, he stared blankly at the endless sky before him. This was horrible. It was a joke. It was all a joke, right? Percy, the funny 'I am super macho!' dude, wasn't dead. HE couldn't be. It was impossible. Percy was the hero. The one who defeats the bad guy and gets the girl.

He was the hero.

The hero.

The hero.

The hero.

But he was dead.

If he was dead then that meant that heroes die.

Heroes die.

Heroes die.

Heroes die.

Would he be honoured? Forever? Would he get what he deserved for being their light in the deepest, darkest pitch black Leo had ever known? Leo felt like laughing. He knew the answer to that.

No.

No, he would never be remembered forever. No, his tale would never be told, because he had died. Heroes who die don't get honour. They don't get glory. Maybe, for a short period of time he would be remembered but in the end the gods would forget, just as they always did. And when the gods forgot, the world would follow suit.

The only thing eternal in this world was immortals, and even they were liable to disappearing.

He would never be eternal.

Ha.

Ha.

Ha.

Ha.

What a funny joke.

Leo screamed, crying tears of frustration.

* * *

Hazel sniffled. Percy, the brave yet stubborn friend. The kind and humorous boy who hadn't flinched in fear when she told him she was an abomination. Who hadn't treated her differently when she revealed she was a walking crime. So, why? Why, were the damned Fates so cruel? Could they not let just one beacon of hope shine in this desolate world?

Why did he die?

Why wasn't he strong enough to survive and fight another day?

Why was he leaving them alone?

Why was he running?

Why couldn't he stay?

Why?

It was happening again. Her family was being torn apart. It was all Gaia's fault, it was always her fault. Hazel didn't want her family to fall again. She wanted them to all get together and hang out once more. To enjoy everyone's triumphant smiles and cries of victory as they celebrated the downfall of Gaia. Now, they could never smile. Not all stories have happy endings, Hazel knew that. She knew, but she had hoped because what else could she do in this treacherous world she lived in?

It seemed, however, that a happy ending wasn't a possibility in this anguished world of hers. Had it ever been possible?

* * *

Frank felt time stop. Percy… dead? How? What? Impossible. He couldn't have. Percy was indestructible, a few monsters could never kill him. So, if Percy was alive why was Frank feeling an excruciating pain where his heart is? Maybe, a monster had managed to sneak up on him. Frank looked down. No. There wasn't a blossoming red flower on his shirt. So, if Percy was alive why was his head bursting with turbulent emotions? So, why did it feel like his heart was exploding?

An illusion?

Yes! That was it! An illusion! He should warn the others! Ha ha, the others probably already knew though. After all, Percy dying was so unfathomable that only a monster could think it up.

Right?

Right?

Maybe, maybe, it wasn't an illusion.

Maybe, it was reality.

It was reality?

Reality?

Frank didn't like reality. In reality his mother died. His grandmother died. His friends died. People died. Demigods died. Gods died. Percy died. Reality wasn't nice, it wasn't nice at all.

Frank didn't want to live in reality, he would rather stay in his head.

* * *

Sadness was a word didn't even come close to describing the emotions Piper was feeling. She was drowning in seas and seas of guilt, depression and despair.

Guilt, for her inadequacies. If only she had noticed the string attached to Percy's shoe then things would be so, so different.

Depression, for the horrifying realisation that Percy was gone, forever. There was no secret Physicians cure. There was no last minute 'I'm back!' surprise. There was nothing, only his death. Looming heavily over their heads.

Despair for the future. Without Percy they were like discordant notes, different pieces of a puzzle that didn't match. His death would interfere with their thoughts through the nights and days. His nonexistence would shatter their team.

* * *

Piper felt herself slowly becoming detached from her mind. Objectively, she observed the emotions overflowing in her heart. Her very soul seemed to cry for the lost friend, for the glue of the team. After all, it was obvious looking at the others that they were only held together by Percy.

Jason was staring brokenly at the deck. Hazel was crying while whispering, "Not again..." over and over like a mantra. Frank was gazing blankly at the sky muttering about illusions and reality. Nico was rocking himself on the deck, staring blankly at the sea below. Leo… Leo was switching between screaming whilst crying and laughing maniacally repeating the words, "Funny, funny joke!" again and again. And Piper, well, she herself was simply observing, horrified, at the sights of the mentally deranged crew of the Argo II.

The crew of hope.

The heroes of Olympus.

They lay before her broken, abandoned and destroyed.

Save the world?

Hah, none of them could even stand right now. Much less defeat a Primordial entity. Piper wasn't sure that they would ever recover. Such was the extent of emotional impact the death of the demigod known as Percy Jackson had on them.

He was more than just a hero.

He was a kind, caring, brave, funny, happy, demigod who was irreplaceable.

He was their light in a suffocating darkness.


End file.
